Ana Ivanovic saved two match points to advance to Wimbledon third round

Top seed Ana Ivanovic won an epic battle against France’s Nathalie Dechy in Wimbledon second round. The Serb saved two match points as she battled to a 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 10-8 victory.

World No.1 Ivanovic had a 5-2 lead in the first set, but in the end the tie-break was played and Dechy won it 7-2. Ivanovic’s struggle continued in the second set with the top seed facing two match points when serving at 4-5 down. The third set was also tough, but Ivanovic survived and clinched victory in three hours and 24 minutes.

The most thrilling moment was on world No.97 Dechy’s second match point when Ivanovic’s shot thumped into the net and just when it seemed that it would fall back towards her, the ball rolled over into her opponent's side of the court. After the match Ivanovic kissed the part of the net that saved her existence at Wimbledon.

"My heart skipped a beat because the ball was in the air for a while and I didn't know where it was going to bounce," said Ivanovic, who was a favorite heading into the encounter with Dechy. (source: BBC, photo: Getty Images via Yahoo)

5 thoughts on “Ana Ivanovic saved two match points to advance to Wimbledon third round”

As the top seed, she should have won that 2nd round comfortably. I was rooting for her opponent, too bad that lucky netcord saved her from near embarrassment! Novak's out and if Ana had followed his steps, that would have been great! I will still dance for celebration because Marat just kicked out the wanna-be Novak so early in the tournament!

The way I see it, it was a case of Dechy losing the match rather than Ana winning it. It seemed like so much luck was on her side. Congratulations for incredible play to Dechy, you almost dumped her out!